Joseph Oliver Bowers
| Joseph Oliver Bowers | |
|---|---|
| Bishop St. Johns -Basseterre (Emeritus) | |
Bishop Bowers in his early days.
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| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| See | St. Johns-Basseterre |
| In office | 1971–81 |
| Predecessor | New Creation |
| Successor | Donald Reece |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 22 January 1939 |
| Consecration | 8 January 1953 by Francis Joseph Spellman |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
28 March 1910 Massacre, British Leeward Islands (present-day Dominica) |
| Died | 5 November 2012 (aged 102) Agomanya, Eastern Region, Ghana |
| Previous post | Bishop of Accra, Ghana Bishop |
Joseph Oliver Bowers, SVD (28 March 1910 – 5 November 2012) was a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church from Dominica, who went to West Africa to serve in the then Gold Coast in 1939. He is credited with having tripled the Catholic population and parishes in Ghana and for substantially increasing the number of Catholic priests and religious laity in the Diocese of Accra. At the time of his death in Ghana, aged 102, he was the second-oldest Roman Catholic bishop and the oldest from the Caribbean.
Bowers was born in the Dominican, to Sheriff Montague Bowers (originally from Antigua) and his wife Mary. He was educated at the Dominica Grammar School, before traveling to the United States to attend St. Augustine Seminary, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He was ordained on 22 January 1939, and continued as a priest in the Society of the Divine Word from 1939 to 1952. He was then appointed auxiliary bishop of Accra, Ghana, and Titular Bishop of Cyparissia. Bowers was appointed Bishop of Accra on 8 January 1953, and received his episcopal consecration on 22 April 1953, from Cardinal Spellman at the Church of Our Lady of the Gulf in Bay St. Louis, United States, becoming the first black bishop consecrated in the United States.
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